'The Strangers' Trailer Analysis

As my group and I are unsure of which horror sub genre we will produce, we have assigned each other one sub genre each to research into, I am looking at Psychological.

We thought it would be a good idea to do a textual analysis for this research as it will allow us to clearly look at the film sub- genre conventions. We will feedback our analysis to each member of the group so we all have an idea of the conventions of each genre: psychological, killer and paranormal. We then make a decision on which sub genre is best for us to research further and produce.

Psychological- The Strangers:

BBFC- 15


Characters
Protagonist- the couple
Antagonist- the strangers
The sex appeal- the woman in couple
The unlikely hero- this film challenges this character convention as there is no unlikely hero. This gives the audience hope that both characters are going to survive to the end.

At the beginning of the trailer there is a long establishing shot of a house in low key lighting. There is non-diegetic piano sound playing in the background which sets a calm mood and makes the audience feel a state of equilibrium. We can clearly see that the film is set at night time which links to the key conventions of the horror genre because people tend to get more scared at night time. Also by this shot we can tell that the house is in an isolated setting, which is also a key convention of a horror film. It makes the audience feel scared for the character because if your isolated you’re more vulnerable, therefore they become hooked to the trailer and so will want to watch the film.

After the shot of the house, the trailer makes the audience feel a false sense of security by showing a young couple in their home being affectionate with one another using a 2 shot and over the shoulder shot. This makes the audience feel at ease as they seem like a normal couple, however there is a quick change in mood when the use of non diegetic sound of something being dropped disturbs the couple and the audience. This creates an adrenaline rushing atmosphere as the audience know that if they were ever in that situation they would be terrified therefore this makes the trailer tense for the audience as they can relate to the characters. The director alternates this mood between calm and adrenaline rushing as he wants to deceive the audience, which he does and this mood also creates a sense of shock and surprise amongst the viewers. This then increases the tension making the audience want to see the rest of the trailer and the whole film which is meeting the overall purpose of a trailer.

After the dropping sound, a sense of disequilibrium is made as the shot cuts to a long shot of the living room curtains which is where the sound came from. However, the shot is also a point of view shot from the characters and we can see that the living room has homely feel to it. As an audience we can relate to this because everyone has a living room, and therefore makes the trailer/film realistic and scary for the audience making them want to carry on watching.

Throughout the trailer, particularly in this shot, there is a sense of darkness as the house setting uses dim artificial lighting to create a low key and scary mood. The darkness in the trailer connotates a feeling of insecurity and mystery, which are all key conventions of the horror genre, therefore darkness is often used a semantic field in a horror trailer which is why it is incorporated in this film to add to the enigma, making the audience want to see more.

The director uses text between shots, such as ‘Inspired by True Events’. By telling the audience that the film is based on a true story, this adds to the realism of the film and as a result makes the film a more scary experience for the audience, as it would make them think that the events which occur in the film could happen to anyone. The colours of the text meet the typical conventions of a horror trailer as it uses white text on a black background, this suggests to the audience that there may be some hope in the film, however it also represents how isolated the couple are from the rest of society suggesting to the audience there may be no hope for the characters creating a tense atmosphere.

This long establishing shot shows the woman in the kitchen wearing casual clothes which is a key costume convention for the protagonist. This enables the audience to relate to this character as she also looks vulnerable in the shot as the camera is so far away showing how scared she is which is how the audience will also be feeling at this point.  As well as this, the antagonist's face appears from the darkness behind her. It is wearing a mask to hide its identity which makes the audience want to watch the film as usually their identities are shown at the end of the film. However as it is behind the woman, the audience become tense as they are wondering what is going to happen as she cannot see the antagonist. 

Throughout the trailer, camera shots are used effectively as at some points such as in this shot, we see the camera shaking as if it is being held by someone. This shot creates a first person perspective and makes the audience wonder who is behind the camera. This is done effectively by the director, as these shots are predominately shown when showing a shot of outside of the house, which gives the audience the impression that someone is stalking the couple and that they are in danger.

The over the shoulder shot of the couple used in the car allows the audience to see the film from the characters perspective. This makes the audience feel the same as the characters to make them even more scared but to also make the film feel more realistic. This scene however also contains fast paced editing, and the diegetic dialogue of the characters screaming makes everything seem so fast which makes everything scarier for the audience.

Near the end of the trailer, there are very quick transitions of lots of shots in sync with the music between  the shots to increase the pace of the trailer.  This could represent the increase of pace of the audience's heartbeat at this point in he trailer, as the horror elements incorporated in the film can be a scary experience for the viewer. 

Sound

I watched the trailer with and without a soundtrack to see the effect sound really has:

First of all, I watched it with a soundtrack and this created a mix of scary and calming atmospheres throughout the trailer. The trailer opens with the non-diegetic sound of the piano which was very soft music to go with the trailers action; however there is then a sudden diegetic sound of something being dropped which changes the mood completely as it makes the audience feel scared as the atmosphere becomes eerie. There is also non- diegetic eerie music used after the dropping noise which represents the change from a calm mood to a scary atmosphere making the audience feel nervous for the characters which is a key convention of a horror trailer as they will want to know what happens to the characters.

Furthermore, there is a shot of a swing moving and the diegetic sound of the swing creaking is used to create a tense and scary atmosphere. This also adds to the enigma, and raises the question of what caused it to move, resulting in an increase of suspense for the audience. This will also make the audience want to watch the film to find out.

On the other hand, I then watched the trailer without a soundtrack and it didn't make me feel tense at all as it didn't give the same effect. I believe it is the sound which creates the majority of the suspense as it can be used at a loud fast pace or a quiet slow pace depending on the action and how the director wants the audience to feel at a certain point. The sound can also be made to lure the audience into the trailer and make them want to carry on watching. for example, at the end of the trailer, the sound fades out making the audience think there is more to come so they will go and watch the film.

What have I learnt and how will I use this research?
Overall, from this trailer analysis, I now know what conventions are included in a psychological horror, however from previous research into horror codes and conventions, this trailer meets most of the typical horror conventions. Therefore, in my final product, I must include low key lighting as this is crucial as it is used throughout the trailer to create an eerie atmosphere. It also allows the director to create shadows using artificial lighting such as torches and lamps. Also, I have learnt that as a group we don't necessarily have to have all the characters typically shown in a horror trailer, for example this film didn't include an unlikely hero and it still had a good narrative and frightened its audience by creating semantic fields therefore this is what we need to consider. However, most importantly, it is crucial we include sound in our trailer as this is what gives the overall frightening affect on its audience. As we are still unsure of which sub- genre we are producing synchronous and non-diegetic sound are still important to use.
However, the convention of this text which is specific to a psychological horror is the antagonist characters as they made the audience fear for the characters lives and a psychological horror film is successful when it relies on the characters fears and emotions to build tension for the audience. Therefore, if we decide to produce a psychological horror trailer, characters are a big convention we need to consider.